Wacky Wednesday

Knoebel's Grove

2008-08-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

Justin and I spent the weekend with is family and they took me for my first visit to Knoebel’s Grove, which is an amusement park in the middle of nowhere Central PA. The grounds include a campground complete with cabin and tent camping, depending on your desired level of camping intensity, a water park, games, food vendors, and numerous other rides including two wooden roller coasters.

One of the great things about Knoebel’s is that you don’t pay an entrance fee, but instead use tickets like you would at a State Fair, so a day at Knoebel’s is nearly* as enjoyable as a day at Six Flags and much cheaper. Another awesome thing is the food. It’s cheap and there’s a ton of variety and it’s soooo good (well, most of it). I ditched my healthy (boring) tuna packet and kashi bar in favor of a hot roast beef sandwich with cheez whiz and ketchup. So worth it! I later had a strawberry and vanilla soft serve ice cream cone. I’m drooling just thinking about it now (food porn!). In fact, I was drooling all day as we walked around the park and tried to find room in my stomach for tacos, pizza, and funnel cake. Luckily logic won…I didn’t want to get sick on the rides!

*Only nearly as fun because I love roller coasters and the two wooden roller coasters were great, but just didn't satisfy my loop-dee-loop craving.

This is Carter's first ever amusement park ride! He was so interested in the kids around him I don't think he even noticed he was spinning, and spinning, and spinning, and...
(Click to picture to make it larger so you can see his adorable smiling face!)

Kathy, Tim & Carter on the Antique Cars.

My strong and handsome hubby won me a pretty rose =o)

Ol' Skid didn't seem to mind that I'm a Yankee AND a flatlander.

Food Porn

2008-08-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

It’s off limits and it makes you drool.

I’m in the process of trying to drop some body fat by severely limiting the amount of yummy treats I eat. My meals are completely regimented and every calorie is a calorie that healthfully fuels my body. With this, I find that I lust after food that I can’t/won’t have. The ooey gooey triple chocolate cake in the kitchen at work looks fantastic. I walk past it on my way to and from the fridge to get my baby carrots and egg whites and smile at it while my mouth waters. Then I sit at my desk and gag down my egg whites. I know it sounds severe, and I’m not trying to complain. Food porn is common amongst fellow fitness freaks and I just think it’s kinda funny that others are lusting after yummy food too. Once I reach my goal, all the yummy food in the world can kiss my tight ass =o)

Isn't she purdy?

I like to get my fix of food porn (and treat day recipes) here:

http://bakingblonde.wordpress.com/

3 fun things

2008-08-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

#1. Justin and I went on a great 6 mile hike with two friends, Dave and John, over the weekend. Rickett’s Glen State Park in PA is beautiful, boasting 22 waterfalls and tons of lush green landscapes. We like to choose trails that are challenging and provide a great workout while enjoying the vistas and peaceful greenery. Besides being pretty packed on the tourist-attracting falls trails, Rickett’s Glen fit the bill.

The pre-hike group shot. Yep, the car was our tripod.

Here are the guys taking a jerky break. Jerky is one of the best hiking snacks.

One of the beautiful falls along our path.

And another.

My handsome hubby with the walking stick he found at the trail head. He got compliments on it all day.

And me. I just realized how big my sunglasses are. Or is my face just small?

#2. My mom and John celebrated their 5 year wedding anniversary on Saturday and I made an anniversary dessert for them that they were kind enough to share with us. If I do say so myself, it was pretty tasty…and easy! As an afterthought, I added the blueberries on top, but I think they would’ve been fantastic if I’d mixed them in with the mango (maybe using a little less mango to accommodate the added fruit). I also used lots more macadamia nuts in the crisp than the recipe calls for.

Mango Macadamia Crisp

Taken from Cooking Light Everyday Favorites Cookbook

Ingredients
Filling:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 cups chopped peeled ripe mango (about 4 pounds)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons butter, melted
Cooking spray

Topping:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped macadamia nuts

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°. Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and cornstarch, stirring well with a whisk. Add mango, juice, and 2 teaspoons melted butter, and toss gently to combine. Place mango mixture in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray.

To prepare topping, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar, brown sugar, and ginger, stirring well. Cut in 3 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in nuts. Sprinkle flour mixture evenly over mango mixture. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until browned.

8 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup)

CALORIES 238(31% from fat); FAT 8.1g (sat 3.1g,mono 4.2g,poly 0.3g); IRON 0.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 14mg; CALCIUM 21mg; CARBOHYDRATE 43.7g; SODIUM 49mg; PROTEIN 1.7g; FIBER 3.3g

And, finally #3. Justin and I booked our 1 year anniversary trip! We’ll be staying 3 nights in a private cabin near Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I’m looking forward to some hiking, cavern exploring, and relaxing with my hubby in the hot tub on the deck of our cabin watching the river flow by. I am ridiculously excited. Ridiculously. The next two and a half months cannot pass quickly enough!

Wacky Wednesday

2008-08-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Previously blogging over at this blog, I took a break for a while because I just wasn’t feeling the blogging thing. There was too much pressure to perform, to always have something exciting to blog about, to post pictures, etc. However over the past few weeks I’ve come to miss it and this morning put the icing on the cake. I just have to blog about my Wacky Wednesday.

Wacky Wednesday was my favorite Dr. Seuss book as a kid. The character’s Wednesday starts out with a shoe on the wall and he says “A shoe on the wall shouldn’t be there at all!”

So I woke up at 5:30am and completed a rigorous quad workout at 7:05am. Hubby was searching for his creamer in the fridge (and not finding it) when I noticed that the ground beef had leaked it’s blood juice all over the bottom shelf of my fridge. Already being late for work, I felt the need to clean it anyway (blood juice is easier to clean than blood crust, right?), so I spent the next 10 minutes emptying, disinfecting, and re-stocking the bottom portion of my fridge. A while later, I noticed a pain in my hip and look to see a small puncture hole. Apparently a bug or spider decided to crawl up my shorts and bite while I was taking the dogs out. The puncture hurt pretty bad and started becoming red and swollen, so I worried that I would have to visit the doctor today…no fun! While I’m worrying about that and getting my food together for the day, I noticed 3 little worms crawling on my ceiling above my stove. I’m really grossed out. I can deal with spiders and nasty house centipedes in my house, but worms just don’t belong (“A worm on the wall shouldn’t be there at all!”). So I pluck and flush the little wormies and continue on with my hectic morning. As I’m ready to leave for work, I notice 2 more of the little guys in the same spot on my ceiling. It occurs to me that we have some old parrot food in the cabinet above the microwave. To brace myself for a cabinet full of worms, I tell the dogs “this is not going to be pretty guys…not one bit”. I grab a chair to stand on and proceed to open the cabinet. I find a bag full of rotting dried fruit, nuts, and WORMS. Luckily most of the worms were in the bag, but there were a few crawling around the cabinet and the platters that I store in there. I disposed of the worm bag, emptied and disinfected the cabinets, washed the platters, and left for work. As soon as I got into the car, I just had to call my husband to tell him all about my morning full of blood juice, insects, and plain old yuckiness! It was definitely a WEIRD morning!